Offer
This document sets out the terms of our offer to provide legal services to you and constitutes our costs agreement and disclosure pursuant to the Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW) (“the Uniform Law”).
Work
The work we have been instructed to undertake is to ACT ON COMPLETION OF THE CONTRACT.
Professional Fees
We will charge you professional fees as follows:
ACT ON COMPLETION OF THE CONTRACT – $900.00
Expenses
We will incur the following expenses:
Property Enquiries $300-$500
Sundries $20.00
Estimate of Fees and Expenses
The following estimate is based on the information available to us to date. It is an estimate, not a quotation and subject to change.
| Item | |
| Professional Legal Costs | $900.00 |
| Expenses | |
| – Property enquiries | $300-500 |
| – Sundries | |
| GST | 90.00 |
| TOTAL | $# |
Billing Arrangements
We will send you an invoice containing information of our professional fees and expenses, including GST, upon receipt of your instructions/online order to file your trade mark application(s).
Acceptance of Offer
By proceeding with your online order you accept this costs disclosure/costs agreement and agree to pay for our services on these terms.
Application of money paid
You expressly authorise us to pay all amounts paid on account of professional fees and expenses to us forthwith without the need to firstly depositing them into our trust account.
Your Rights
It is your right to:
(a) negotiate a costs agreement with us;
(b) negotiate the method of billing (e.g. task based or time based);
(c) request and receive an itemised bill within 30 days after a lump sum bill or partially itemised bill is payable;
(d) seek the assistance of the designated local regulatory authority (the NSW Commissioner) in the event of a dispute about legal costs;
(e) be notified as soon as is reasonably practicable of any substantial change to any matter affecting costs;
(f) accept or reject any offer we make for an interstate costs law to apply to your matter; and
(g) notify us that you require an interstate costs law to apply to your matter.
If you request an itemised bill and the total amount of the legal costs specified in it exceeds the amount previously specified in the lump sum bill for the same matter, the additional costs may be recovered by us only if:
(i) when the lump sum bill is given, we inform you in writing that the total amount of the legal costs specified in any itemised bill may be higher than the amount specified in the lump sum bill, and
(ii) the costs are determined to be payable after a costs assessment or after a binding determination under section 292 of the Uniform Law.
Nothing in these terms affects your rights under the Australian Consumer Law.
Your Rights in relation to a Dispute concerning Costs
If you have a dispute in relation to any aspect of our legal costs you have the following avenues of redress:
(a) in the first instance we encourage you to discuss your concerns with us so that any issue can be identified and we can have the opportunity of resolving the matter promptly and without it adversely impacting on our business relationship;
(b) you may apply to the Manager, Costs Assessment located at the Supreme Court of NSW for an assessment of our costs. This application must be made within 12 months after the bill was provided or request for payment made or after the costs were paid.
Retention of Your Documents
We will, during and upon completion of your Work, scan all documents relating to your matter and retain copies in electronic format on the undertaking that we have your authority to destroy the original documents as we complete each stage of the Work (except original signed contractual documents which will be returned to you for your safe keeping after completion of the Work or any documents which are deposited in safe custody which will, subject to agreement, be retained on your behalf indefinitely).
Termination by Us
We may cease to act for you or refuse to perform further work, including:
(a) while any of our tax invoices remain unpaid;
(b) if you do not within 7 days comply with any request to pay an amount in respect of disbursements or future costs;
(c) if you fail to provide us with clear and timely instructions to enable us to advance your matter, for example, compromising our ability to comply with Court directions, orders or practice notes;
(d) if you refuse to accept our advice;
(e) if you indicate to us or we form the view that you have lost confidence in us;
(f) if there are any ethical grounds which we consider require us to cease acting for you, for example a conflict of interest;
(g) for any other reason outside our control which has the effect of compromising our ability to perform the work required within the required timeframe; or
(h) if in our sole discretion we consider it is no longer appropriate to act for you; or
(i) for just cause.
We will give you reasonable written notice of termination of our services. You will be required to pay our costs incurred up to the date of termination.
Termination by You
You may terminate our services by written notice at any time. However, if you do so you will be required to pay our costs incurred up to the date of termination (including if the matter is litigious, any cancellation fees or other fees such as hearing allocation fees for which we remain responsible).
Privacy
We will collect personal information from you in the course of providing our legal services. We may also obtain personal information from third party searches, other investigations and, sometimes, from adverse parties.
We are required to collect the full name and address of our clients by Rule 93 of the Uniform General Rules. Accurate name and address information must also be collected in order to comply with the trust account record keeping requirements of Rule 47 of the Uniform General Rules and to comply with our duty to the courts.
Your personal information will only be used for the purposes for which it is collected or in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). For example, we may use your personal information to provide advice and recommendations that take into account your personal circumstances.
If you do not provide us with the full name and address information required by law we cannot act for you. If you do not provide us with the other personal information that we request our advice may be wrong for you or misleading.
Depending on the nature of your matter the types of bodies to whom we may disclose your personal information include IP Australia, WIPO and third parties involved in the completion or processing of a transaction.
We do not disclose your information overseas unless your instructions involve dealing with parties located overseas. If your matter involves parties overseas we may disclose select personal information to overseas recipients associated with that matter in order to carry out your instructions.
We manage and protect your personal information in accordance with our privacy policy [which can be found on our firm website or a copy of which we shall provide at your request]. Our privacy policy contains information about how you can access and correct the personal information we hold about you and how you can raise any concerns about our personal information handling practices. For more information, please contact us in writing.
Sending Material Electronically
We are able to send and receive documents electronically. However, as such transmission is not secure it may be copied, recorded, read or interfered with by third parties while in transit. If you ask us to transmit any document electronically, you release us fromany claim you may have as a result of any unauthorised copying, recording, reading or interference with that document, for any delay or non-delivery of any document and for any damage caused to your system or any files.
GST
Where applicable, GST is payable on our professional fees and expenses and will be clearly shown on our tax invoices. By accepting these terms you agree to pay us an amount equivalent to the GST imposed on these charges.
Governing Law
The law of New South Wales governs these terms and legal costs in relation to any matter upon which we are instructed to act.
Interstate or Overseas Transactions
You acknowledge and agree that if the subject matter of the work we are required to undertake relates to a jurisdiction outside of NSW, that the legal services will be provided wholly or primarily in NSW, and that the provisions of the Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW) apply to this Costs Disclosure and Costs Agreement.
Limit of liability
Our liability is limited by the Solicitors Scheme, approved under the Professional Standards Act 1994 (NSW). In the event that you have a successful claim against us for liability including negligence which is not limited by the Solicitors Scheme, whether under any State, Federal or general law, you agree that our liability, upon any judgment or settlement, will not exceed the limit of AUD$1,500,000 per claim (including your legal costs).
Notification of client’s rights
You may request an itemised bill from us after receiving a bill that is not itemised or is partially itemised within 30 days after the date that the costs in that bill become payable.
In the event of a dispute in relation to legal costs you may:
• seek the assistance of the NSW Commissioner;
• have the costs assessed (*).
A complaint to the NSW Commissioner, in relation to this bill, must be made within the required period of 60 days after the legal costs become payable or if an itemised bill was requested, 30 days after that request was complied with. The NSW Commissioner may waive the time requirement if satisfied that the complaint is made within 4 months after the required period and it is just and fair to deal with the complaint, having regard to the delay and reasons for the delay.
An application for costs assessment must be made within 12 months after:
(a) the bill was given to you, or the request for payment was made to you, the third party payer or other law practice; or
(b) the legal costs were paid if neither a bill nor a request was made.
We may give you an interim bill covering part only of the legal services we were retained to provide. Legal costs that are the subject of an interim bill may be assessed either at the time of the interim bill or at the time of the final bill, whether or not the interim bill has previously been assessed or paid.
If this is a lump sum bill and you request an itemised bill, which exceeds the amount specified in this lump sum bill, the additional costs may be recovered from you only if the costs are determined to be payable after a costs assessment or after a binding determination by the NSW Commissioner.
(*) If you make a complaint about the costs to the NSW Commissioner you cannot have the costs assessed unless the costs dispute is unable to be resolved by the NSW Commissioner and they have notified the parties of their entitlement to apply for a costs assessment or the NSW Commissioner arranges for a costs assessment.
(Controlled Document v1.0 161115)
